Potosi! We went through this town on a night bus and were less than impressed, we drove around in circles for about two hours (waiting to pick more people up we assume) and the streets were full of rubbish, like there had been a rubbish riot, it is possible there was!

So with the threat of a week long bus strike we continued on to Sucre, a lovely lovely city, and avoided Potosi last week.

But, I wanted to come back to see the place. This was South America´s richest city at some point (back in the day) and the wealth was based on the mining of silver. The rich brought in mining slaves from africa and other indiginous parts of SA and made their wealth. The guide books say eight million died mining the silver!!!!! The mines are still working places, cooperatives but there is not much plata left now. Often the miners die within ten years of working there due to the inhilation of dangerous substances, e.g. asbestos!

You can visit the mines and take gifts for the minors (cigs and dynamite for example!) and the tours give money back to the workers so it sounded good from that perspective. I was far too scared at first and H&S isnt high on the agenda here, but I worked up the courage last night only to be blighted by the loudest most messed up stomach last night and through the night (odd noises) and Lee too, so no mines this morning!

A bit gutted about that really, but hey ho, we are still here and have got to speak to lots of people who have been on the tours, odds on I might have chickened out at the entrance anyway....Learning about the miners and their occupation is faccinating and it feels strange that people are still working hours each day in such terrible conditions for the little they get back. Also shows how many people can be sacrificied for wealth, eight million freaks me out!

Stomachs seemed a little better around midday so we went for a walk and had some ´saltenas´, pretty much empanadas but maybe a bit better, served on the street with hot chilli sauce, none of that today! Also had some sorbet that suggested by its colours to be maybe mango and strawberry but was actually bubblegum ish and aniseed! Hmmmm, not the best. May pay for that later too, lucky bus companions.....

Took a day bus yesterday from Sucre through some interesting terrain, mountains and farms. Buses in Bolivia are a much more ´interesting´ affair than in Argentina. Some differences are:
- Much cheaper, tonights overnight for nine hours is 10 pounds, yesterdays four hours was two pounds.
- Much older and janky! Bad if the roads are not good and it is cold at night.
- They play Bolivian music all the time, throughout the night - i tried to sleep in a seat next to the speaker last week, urghhhh!
- Sometimes there are kids sleeping on the floor in blankets, have to avoid stepping on them.
- They seem to stop a lot, for no clear reason (shouts from locals of VAMOSSSSS and whacks on the drivers door, ha) and the gages often dont seem to work, yestersay we got here with an empty tank apparently.
- At stops, kids jump on to sell you food, yesterday we tried to buy two empanadas but were sold eight from a clever seven year old who saw us a mile off and just dumped them on our laps, shouted 10 bolivianos and ran off to to the back of the bus to sell more, so we had the lot, 10 bolivionos is one pound so no hardship for us and maybe good new for her. We ate seven!
- Our driver yesterday seemed to beep at every person on the road, surely he didnt know them all! Maybe just friendly.
- Sometimes they smell a little of wee!

So much more amusing, although I suppose it depends on the time of day you take them and for how long. Tonight we take the posh bus apparently, fingers crossed!